BALTIMORE 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Wednesday, September 22.
Batting stars: Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Joe Nossek was 2-for-4 with a run. Tony Oliva was 1-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, driving in one.
Pitching stars: Dwight Siebler struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up no hits and two walks. Pete Cimino made his major league debut with a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Dave McNally pitched a complete game, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts. Jerry Adair was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth) and a double, driving in four. Paul Blair was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once.
The game: Adair hit a two-run homer in the second to put the Orioles up 2-0. RBI singles by Bob Allison in the second and Oliva in the third tied it 2-2. In the fifth, however, Brooks Robinson had a run-scoring single and Adair delivered a two-out two-run double to give the Orioles a 5-2 advantage. The Twins put two on with two out in the fifth, but did not threaten after that and at one point had ten men in a row retired.
Of note: Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-4. Earl Battey was 0-for-2. Jim Kaat pitched 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts.
Record: The Twins fell to 96-58. The win brought Baltimore to within eight games and kept their slim hopes alive. Chicago beat Detroit 2-1 and also moved to within eight games, keeping their slim hopes of a tie alive.
Notes: Oliva raised his average to .321. Battey fell back below .300 at .298...Nossek played center field in place of Jimmie Hall... Cimino made his major league debut in this game at age twenty-two. It would be his only appearance for the Twins in 1965. He spent most of 1966 with the Twins, appearing in thirty-five games and going 2-5, 2.92, 1.28 WHIP in 64.2 innings. After the 1966 season he was traded to California along with Hall and Don Mincher for Dean Chance. He pitched very well for the Angels in 1967. One assumes he was injured in 1968, as he made only thirteen appearances that year and never pitched again after that. He once scored 114 points in a high school basketball game, including all 69 of his team's second-half points. His team won, 134-86.